SORRY
Throwing himself through the air, Harry dove for the dumpster, hoping to hide behind it until Dudley's small mind got distracted and he wandered off.
Instead of hitting the green metal bin, he swore he felt the wind picking up, lifting him higher than he thought possible and depositing him safely on the roof of the school. As he heard Dudley's voice screaming violent war-cries, Harry reacted on instinct and scrambled to hide behind one of the school's chimneys, ducking behind it as he clamped his eyes shut and wished.
Sitting as still as a rock, Harry held his breath and strained his ears to focus on the sounds of Dudley and his gang as they searched around the dead end for him. After what felt like years, he slowly let the air escape his lungs as he heard Dudley muttering something about getting hungry before leading his goons out of the dead end and towards the school cafeteria.
Exhaling as he leaned back against the brick chimney, Harry faltered as he swore he heard a voice murmuring out, "Oh my… what a powerful one".
Eyes snapping open, Harry looked around the rooftop for the speaker, before twisting around and peering around the chimney, careful not to be seen by anyone below him on the ground. Frowning slightly when he saw no-one, he pulled back behind the chimney, freezing completely as he felt someone breathing on the back of his neck.
Swallowing sharply, he turned around slowly, flinching back against the chimney as he stared at the woman standing opposite. Black fiery eyes stared at him from a purple-skinned woman, twisted horns growing from her forehead as she grinned down at him. "Hello little boy," the woman greeted, baring her sharp teeth at him as she adjusted the scarves covering her privates, "You hate the way they chase you about don't you?"
Unable to speak, Harry quickly turned his back on the woman, looking out across the school as he hoped the strange woman would leave him alone. He would be in enough trouble as it was, somehow finding his way up onto the school roof, he didn't need to double his Uncle's punishment by admitting he'd seen some strange purple lady on the roof as well.
"You don't have to let them treat you like that you know," the woman continued, making him pause for a moment before shaking his head.
Yes he did. Harry had tried to stand up for himself, and Uncle Vernon had broken his arm in response, banishing him to his cupboard until it healed.
"You have the power to stop them," the purple lady added enticingly, "You just need to learn how to access it".
"What power?"
Slapping his hands over his mouth, Harry shot the surprised woman a guilty look, quickly turning away from her and facing the school again. He couldn't see her, and if he couldn't see her then he shouldn't be able to hear her either, meaning Harry had screwed up and was going to get punished again.
"You can see me?" the woman asked, moving around to stand in front of him, not seeming to notice the way his mouth had fallen open in shock. "You're a lot more powerful than I thought," she murmured, smiling at him gently as Harry stared down at her feet where she was floating in mid-air, having stepped off the roof.
"I'm not powerful," Harry denied, deciding that he was already in trouble anyway.
"But you are," the woman corrected in a purr, almost swimming through the air as she began to circle him, causing him to get distracted by her tail for a second or two. "How else would you get up here? You didn't jump," she pointed out as Harry opened his mouth instantly to claim that very thing, "Nor did the wind catch you. I saw you, I saw you vanish from down there and reappear up here. You teleported, Harry, you".
"How do you know my name?" he asked curiously, edging away from the roof and ducking back behind the chimney so they could speak without being interrupted.
"The same way I know the thing you want the most in this world," the purple woman explained, "I can see into your soul".
"What is it? The thing I want most?" Harry questioned suspiciously, not believing her explanation which was getting too close to 'magic' for his taste.
"Power," the woman said simply, "You want to be able to stand up for yourself. You want to be able to say 'No' and be heard. You want to make Dudley feel everything you feel – don't lie to me," she said sternly as Harry went to argue, "You may not be as cruel as Uncle Vernon, but some part of you wants them to feel the same way they make you feel. And perhaps most importantly, you want power so that no-one can make you do whatever it is you don't want to do. You want to be free".
Okay… so maybe the purple woman was correct. Maybe he did want to be free, but he wouldn't say he wanted to hurt Dudley, or that he wanted power.
"Of course you wouldn't," the woman agreed, "You're eight. You don't understand the finer points in life. You don't get that the more powerful you are, the less that other people can tell you want to do. I can give you that power," she whispered in his ear.
Shaking his head, Harry crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Why would you?" he asked softly, not trusting the woman to keep her promise. Everyone else lied to him after all, why wouldn't she?
"Because I understand you, Harry," the woman claimed gently, making him flinch as two clawed hands landed on his shoulders. "I get that you don't want to be controlled, I get that you want to live your own life. I feel the same way, Harry, everyone always screams at the sight of me, they call me 'demon' or 'freak' and refuse to let me live".
The woman sighed, making Harry glance up at her to see a wistful look on her face. "They call you a demon too?" he mumbled. Aunt Petunia called him a demon sometimes, and at number four Privet Drive he heard the name 'freak' more often than anything else.
"I'm a spirit," the woman explained as she nodded, "But I'm a 'negative' spirit, people call me a demon because they don't want to admit they're wrong. I embody people's desires, their wants, but they don't want to admit that they truly want those things and so they call me evil. I don't want to be evil, Harry," she explained softly.
"I don't want to be evil either," Harry agreed.
"You don't have to be," the woman assured him, "You just have to let me in. I'll show you how to become powerful, teach you how to unlock your inner strength, and you'll show me how to live".
Harry bit his lip, tempted by her offer but still feeling that something was off about it.
"How about this, Harry," the spirit said suddenly. "I'll give you a teaser. A… taste… of my power. And, come this time tomorrow, should you still want to say no? Then we'll part ways and you'll never hear from me again, what do you think of that?"
"I'll be able to say no?" Harry blurted, turning around to stare at the purple woman in shock.
"You'll be able to say no," the woman confirmed with a soft smile.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! HOW DID YOU GET UP THERE?"
Head snapping around to stare at his furious-looking teacher, he swallowed nervously when he saw the smugly smirking Dudley standing beside the man. He was going to be in so much trouble when he got home… unless…
"I'll be able to say no?" he asked one more time, glancing at the spirit, who just smiled in response, reaching out to brush his fringe out of the way with one delicate claw.
"Whenever you want," she agreed.
"HOW DARE YOU USE YOUR FREAKISHNESS LIKE THAT?"
"But I didn't!" Harry defended as he was dragged into the house by his Uncle's grip on his hair, "I just climbed up!"
Uncle Vernon just let out an indecipherable noise, almost tearing Harry's cupboard door off its hinges before throwing him in and slamming the door behind him. His head spinning where it collided with wall of his cupboard, Harry barely managed to hear his Uncle locking the door behind him, a threat hissed through the door warning him to keep quiet or he'd wish he'd never been born.
"And people think I'm evil," the purple lady's voice whispered, Harry flinching slightly when he suddenly found half of his small cupboard taken up by the curled up woman. "Not even I would harm a child like that".
Whatever Harry was expecting her to say next didn't come, leaving them both sitting silently in his cupboard, purple fiery eyes locked on him even as he avoided her eyes, humiliated by the fact that she'd seen how Vernon treated him. Instead of speaking though, Harry twitched as something brushed against his leg, head snapping around and causing a flare up of the lingering dizziness as he stared down at the tail curled around his ankle. Watching the purple spirit through his fringe, confusion filled him as he wondered what she was doing, the woman not reacting to what her tail was doing as she cleaned her nails.
Splat.
Jerking in shock, Harry turned his head too quickly again, fighting off the dizziness as he blinked dumbly down at the spot of red on the wooden floor of his cupboard.
Splat.
Splat.
Huh?
Raising his hand up to his head, Harry made a face as he pulled it back to see the blood covering his fingers, a sigh escaping his lips as he automatically reached for one of his shirts to cover the wound – only for a clawed hand to curl around his wrist and stop him.
"I gave you power, did I not?" the spirit questioned slowly, "Why do you not use it?"
Faltering for a moment, Harry just shrugged uncertainly, not entirely sure what 'power' he'd been given in the first place. Smiling at him gently, the woman – not releasing his hand – moved it over to the cupboard door and smeared the blood from his hand onto the door's lock.
"Open it".
Before he could stop and think about what he was doing, Harry was reaching out and placing his clean hand over the blood, eyes narrowing slightly before, with a loud crack and a flash of light, the door was blasted right out its frame as he felt a rise of power surging up from the blood on the door.
As he climbed out of his cupboard and stepped over its fallen door, Harry found himself raising his hand to his bleeding forehead, scooping up as much of his own blood as he could. His Uncle letting out a roar and rumbling through the house, he stared down at the blood covering his hand, just feeling the power running through his veins.
"Remember Harry," the purple spirit whispered from where she was lounging on his cot, "Power means never having to say you're sorry".
Eyes snapping up as his Uncle Vernon lumbered into the hallway, a look of utter insanity in his eyes, Harry pulled back his blood stained hand and thrust it forward. Almost instantly he felt the power surge up inside him, light erupting from his palm and electricity arced down the hallway to strike his Uncle in the chest. Stepping forward as he concentrated on the power surging through his blood, Harry refused to flinch as Vernon struck the side of the archway and was pinned by the lightning dancing down Harry's arm and into his body.
Releasing his Uncle and watching the fat man slump down to the floor smoking, Harry looked down at his hands again, watching the electricity rolling across his skin.
And he knew.
He just knew he could control his power on his own, he knew how to tap into it at will and make it dance to his tune.
Turning as the purple spirit crawled out of his cupboard – no… not his cupboard any longer – Harry just tilted his head as she beamed at him victoriously.
"You are so much more powerful than I thought," the spirit praised, "Oh the things I could teach you…"
"I don't need you to teach me how to control my power," Harry corrected bluntly. He had a lot of things to learn, he knew he did. But he no longer needed her.
"Don't even think about it," the spirit growled, her face turning dark. "I gave you that power, and I can take it away".
"But power means never having to say you're sorry," Harry shot back, hands snapping up and lightning blasting out to stab into the spirit's 'body' and slamming her into the wall opposite. "And this power is mine," he added as he watched the spirit scream emotionlessly, pushing everything he had into preventing the woman from fighting back.
When she finally exploded into black dust and vanished, Harry sagged back against the wall as a wave of exhaustion hit him. His power was his, and his alone. He wouldn't share it or his body with someone who so carelessly admitted to being a demon.
Glancing over at his Uncle, Harry watched the lightning flicker between his fingers. He needed to rest, to get his strength back. He needed all the power he could muster up for when his Uncle woke and tried to 'fix' the balance in the Dursley house.
Padding upstairs, grateful that his Aunt had decided to take Dudley out for ice-cream while Harry was punished, he pushed open the door to the guest bedroom and locked it behind him. The next few months wouldn't be easy. He'd have to sleep with one eye open to prevent his 'loving family' from getting the drop on him, and he'd have to practice his Power endlessly to get it to full strength – but he knew it was worth it.
After all, he had the Power. And he wasn't sorry.
SORRY
Inspired by DZ2's "Mark of Zeus" challenge! It's not the original idea I had in mind for it, but I like it.